LAKEHURST, N.J. — There are only 11 months left in the Pentagon’s window to show progress in Afghanistan, and progress is still spotty. However, a bright spot is the introduction of several new, small and sophisticated aircraft designs that carry packages of sensors that will pit the U.S. Army’s ability to exploit the electromagnetic spectrum against the Taliban’s tactical flexibility.
UTTI, Finland — The Finnish army has begun using its NH-90 troop transport helicopters in day-to-day search-and-rescue operations and is gearing up to reach full operational capability with the rotorcraft in 2012.
SHADOW SALE: The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) says it is in talks with Australia over the sale of two AAI RQ-7B Shadow UAVs. The size of the deal, which the DSCA has submitted to Congress, is up to $218 million, including logistics support, and includes four ground control systems. Australia is in the process of expanding its tactical and strategic unmanned aircraft force. Under the JP129 program, the nation planned to buy the Israel Aerospace Industries I-View, but the program ran into problems and was canceled.
PLACE YOUR BETS: Seven bidders are expressing interest in the Advanced European Jet Pilot Training (AEJPT) program. According to the European Defense Agency, the teams who responded to its request for information were Dassault, BAE Systems, Sjöland & Thyselius, EADS together with Alenia Aermacchi, Thales, Patria and Saab. The AEJPT is a long-running European effort to try to pool requirements for combat aircrew training needs. The responses to the RFI will be used to develop a request for proposals for the program (Aerospace DAILY, April 28).
PARIS — The European Space Agency (ESA) has initiated a vacuum test campaign intended to show the ability of a new miniature vegetation camera to withstand the extremes of space operation.
GREEK DEFENSE: “As part of the sharp austerity measures confronting Greece, the armed forces will have to accept the bad-tasting medicine the rest of the country is being forced to swallow in order to spare the nation from bankruptcy,” Forecast International’s European Defense Analyst Dan Darling says.
(Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) May 11 - 12 — The Shephard Group’s Electronic Warfare 2010 Conference, Estrel Convention Center, Berlin, Germany. For more information go to www.shephard.co.uk/events May 11 - 13 — ICNS 2010 - Integrated Communications Navigation and Surveillance Conference, “The Challenges of NextGen: New Issues for Aviation’s Future,” Westin Washington Dulles Airport Hotel, Herndon, Va. For more information go to www.i-cns.org
TEL AVIV — The Israeli Air Force (IAF) next year will start fielding Elbit Systems’ Hermes 900 medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aircraft after becoming the launch customer for the system. Under a $50 million contract, Elbit will supply several Hermes 900 UAVs as well as some advanced models of the Hermes 450 (“Zik”), which has been the linchpin of the IAF’s UAV force since 1999. The IAF will have to wait several months for the new system, however, since development tests have not been completed.
GATES CRASHING: As he has done for a few springs now, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is continuing his practice of delivering stark speeches to military audiences. Fresh off a headline-grabbing address questioning shipbuilding plans in front of naval boosters and officers near Washington last week (Aerospace DAILY, May 4), the Pentagon chief was expected to offer another spending send-up May 8 at the Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kan. Check the Aviation Week Intelligence Network and the Ares defense blog for coverage of the Eisenhower address.
SLOVAK SPACE: Officials from the European Space Agency (ESA) and Slovakia will flesh out cooperative space-research efforts in Earth observation, space science, microgravity experiments and perhaps other areas as well under a new agreement signed late last month. The accord will form the basis for closer cooperation in the future, growing out of a 2008 ESA/Slovak conference that led to the creation of an expert committee in the former Soviet-bloc nation.
PARIS — After months of preparations and negotiations, the French and Italian defense ministries have finally issued a contract to build Sicral 2, a new secure UHF/SHF communications satellite intended in particular to bolster the two countries’ tactical satcom capability. The new spacecraft also will serve to reinforce NATO satcom capacity, which Italy and France supply in cooperation with the U.K.
HIGHER LOBBY: Aerospace-friendly Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo.) have launched the Senate Aerospace Caucus with the help of U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Textron CEO and President Scott Donnelly, who is also chairman of the powerful Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) trade group. The caucus’s inaugural luncheon May 6 on Capitol Hill focused on planning around defense industrial base issues, acquisition reform and workforce needs. The House has a similar caucus, led in part by Rep.
PARIS — Two U.S.-based operators have split orders for orbiting a pair of big new communications satellites between the two leading commercial launch providers.
COUNTERING IEDs: The U.K. Defense Ministry’s Counter Terrorism Science and Technology Center is about to launch a competition into identifying technologies applicable to the next generation of improvised explosive device search-and-defeat technologies. The ministry is due to hold a briefing event this week.
BEAR DOWN: The chief of the National Guard Bureau — a four-star Air Force general — says the Air National Guard and its local communities around the U.S. must prepare for what is likely to be a painful transformation. The Air Guard still operates at bases they started using at the end of World War II, and many units are fighter units flying aircraft that are ending their operational lives. But now the country needs units that can operate UAVs and manage intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, Gen. Craig McKinley told Washington defense reporters last week.
BENGALURU, India — India’s new Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT) has successfully completed its hot weather trials at Jaisalmer. Called Sitara, the aircraft was designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL). Two aircraft are back here in Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) after the grueling 10-day trials, sources say. “It was the first time that the IJT undertook the hot weather trials with the AL-55I Russian engine,” a source says. The first hot weather trials were held in Nagpur in 2006 with the Snecma LARZAC engine.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) May 11 - 12 — The Shephard Group’s Electronic Warfare 2010 Conference, Estrel Convention Center, Berlin, Germany. For more information go to www.shephard.co.uk/events
COLORADO SPRINGS — The U.S. military and intelligence community launch manifest is ramping up to a fast pace to deploy several first-of-fleet models for communications, missile warning and navigation. The first Boeing GPS IIF, which will deploy a new safety-of-life civil signal, is slated for launch May 21, and the second is expected around Nov. 18.
LONDON — The three Aster missile partner nations have been carrying out wind tunnel work supporting a fix for problems that resulted in two test shot failures of the medium-range surface-to-air missile last year. The wind tunnel tests are part of the preparations to restage the test firings that revealed the problems in 2009. Two tests of the Royal Navy’s Sea Viper configuration of the MBDA Aster system resulted in failures in the terminal phase of the engagement.
A company that won a NASA prize for beaming power to a climber in a space-elevator competition is targeting unmanned aircraft as an initial application for its laser-based technology. LaserMotive says power beaming could extend the endurance of electrically powered UAVs. The company plans to fly a small internally funded demonstrator by year’s end. The Seattle-based company has had discussions with some UAV manufacturers, and could have working prototypes of the system available within 18 months, says Tom Nugent, president and co-founder.
MORE LIFT: The Finnish government is adding another EADS Casa C-295M to its fleet, augmenting two of the tactical transports already handed over in 2007-08. The additional aircraft, being purchased under a €112 million ($142 million) deal, is to be delivered in 2013, the Finish defense ministry says. The aircraft will be based at the Tikkakoski air base. The transport aircraft are to help Finland complete the phaseout of its Fokker F27 fleet. The last of the F27s is to be retired in 2015, the defense ministry said.
NAME RANK: Now that the House has passed legislation to name the U.S. Marine Corps along with the Navy in their shared department, eyes are turning toward the Senate, which could go along for a change. “This legislation ... is simply about doing the right thing, which is acknowledging the sacrifice and commitment of millions of Marines who have fought for this country for over two centuries,” said one Democratic proponent, N.Y. Rep. Michael McMahon.
